Production of organic cation radicals in an electrochemical cell

ABSTRACT

Process for producing organic cation radicals using anodic oxidation of an organic molecule in an electrochemical cell containing two electrodes upon which opposite polarity may be established and a liquid electrolyte which is an ion conductive material comprising a salt in solution in a liquid consisting essentially of at least one polar aprotic solvent selected from the group consisting of linear ethers, cyclic ethers, esters, carbonates, lactones, nitrate derivatives, amides, sulfones and sulfolanes, wherein said salt is represented by one of the following formulas: ##STR1## wherein M is an alkaline or alkaline earth metal, a transition metal or a rare earth metal, 
     RF and R&#39;F are identical or different and each represent a perhalogen radical having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms, 
     QF is a perfluorinated bivalent radical having from 2 to 6 carbon atoms.

This is a division, of application Ser. No. 07/672,327, filed on Mar. 20, 1991 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,162,177, which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 07/467,358, filed Jan. 23, 1990 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,308, which is a divisional of application Ser. No. 07/224,915, filed Jun. 30, 1988 now abandoned.

The present invention relates to a new ion conductive material which can be used in particular as a liquid electrolyte for producing both primary and secondary electrochemical current generators.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,997 describes and claims salts, which can be used in particular for producing solid electrolytes and which are called alkaline metal bis-perhalogenoacyl or sulfonylamides.

In accordance with the invention, the ion conductive material is composed of a salt in solution in a liquid solvent, with said salt being represented by one of the following formulas: ##STR2## wherein: M is an alkaline or alkaline earth metal, a transition metal or a rare earth,

RF and R'F, which are identical or different, each represent a perhalogen radical, which is preferably perfluorinated, having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms,

QF is a perfluorinated bivalent radical having from 2 to 6 carbon atoms.

Preferably, QF is C₂ F₄ or C₃ F₆ and, for the compounds of formula (I), the RF and R'F radicals are identical and represent CF₃.

In accordance with another characteristic of the invention, the above salts are dissolved in a polar aprotic liquid solvent, selected from among

linear ethers, such as diethylether, dimethoxyethane or cyclic ethers, such as tetrahydrofuran, dioxane or dimethyltetrahydrofuran,

esters, such as methyl or ethyl formate, propylene or ethylene carbonate, or butyrolactones,

nitriles, acetonitriles, benzonitriles,

nitrate derivatives, such as nitromethane or nitrobenzene,

amides, such as dimethylformamide, diethylformamide and N-methylpyrolidone,

sulfones, such as dimethylsulfone, tetramethylene sulfone and other sulfolanes.

In effect, in a surprising manner, these salts have high solubility in these different types of solvents, with said solubility being greater than that of the salts used in liquid electrochemistry, for example the perchlorates.

In addition, the thermal, chemical and electrochemical stability of the solutions thus produced is remarkable. In particular, the reduction of the corresponding anion is not observed before the deposit of the metal and oxidation takes place at an electrochemical voltage of greater than 4 Volts as compared to a lithium electrode.

These new liquid electrolytes are also of interest with regard to the possibility they offer of very easily producing rechargeable generators operating over a very large number of cycles, greater than 100, even 500.

The following examples are given to illustrate the invention but should not be considered as limiting it.

EXAMPLE 1

An electrochemical generator of the lithium/TiS₂ type was produced using a thin sheet of lithium 200 microns thick as the negative electrode and, as the positive electrode, a porous electrode formed by pressing a TiS₂ powder with a grain size of approximately 10 microns, PTFE latex and carbon black in the following amounts:

TiS₂ powder: 80% by weight

PTFE: 10% by weight

carbon black: 10% by weight

The pressing was carried out on a 50 micron thick expanded nickel collector and the electrode assembled in this manner had a thickness of 200 micorns.

The electrolyte was composed of a 2M solution of Li(CF₃ SO₂)₂ N in propylene carbonate impregnating a microporous glass fiber separator.

In this manner, it could be checked that the generator operated reversibly at room temperature over a number of cycles greater than 100.

The same generator was produced, but the lithium salt was in solution in a 1M solution of tetrahydrofuran (THF).

Similarly, several generators were cycled successfully and had the following characteristics.

EXAMPLE 2

Negative electrode composed of a strip of lithium, positive electrode composed of molybdenum sulfide, MoS₂, sintered on an aluminum collector and having a total thickness of 100 microns. The electrolyte was composed of a 1M solution of Li(CF₃ SO₂)₂ N in a mixture of propylene carbonate (40% by volume) and ethylene carbonate (60% by volume).

EXAMPLE 3

Identical to Example 2 except that the solvent was a mixture of 40% propylene carbonate and 60% dimethoxyethane.

EXAMPLE 4

A generator identical to that of Example 3 was produced, except that the positive electrode material was a fluorinated polycarbon with the formula CFx, as described and claimed in European Patent Application No. 0157818.

EXAMPLE 5

The generator was identical to that of Example 2, except that the salt in solution was a cyclic salt with the formula: ##STR3##

The salt was prepared using the synthesis method described in European Patent Application No. 0057327.

EXAMPLE 6

A generator was cycled at room temperature, in which the positive electrode was composed of a manganese oxide MnO₂ and the electrolyte was a 1M solution of Li(CF₃ SO₂)₂ N in a mixture of dimethoxyethane (50% by volume) and sulfolane.

The following examples relate to the use of the new ion conductive materials in accordance with the invention for applications other than as electrochemical generators.

EXAMPLES 7, 8, 9, 10

Production of organic cation radicals.

7) A perilene cation radical was prepared in an electrochemical cell containing a 1M solution of Li(CF₃ SO₂)₂ N in a nitromethane as the support electrolyte using anodic oxidation on platinum at a voltage of 1.5 Volts in relation to a silver electrode. In this manner perilene crystals were obtained which are represented by the formula

    [perilene].sub.2 (CF.sub.3 SO.sub.2).sub.2 N

These crystals are semiconductors and have greater stability than when a lithium perchlorate is used as the salt in solution in the support electrolyte.

8) A poly(pyrrole) was prepared by oxidation of the monomer in a 0.1M solution of Li(C₄ F₉ SO₂)₂ N in acetonitrile. In this manner an anodic film was obtained which was a very good conductor (100 ohm⁻¹ cm⁻¹), stable in air and in humidity.

9) As in Example 8, a poly(pyrrole) was prepared by using a 0.1M solution of

    K[CF.sub.3 SO.sub.2 --N--CO--CF.sub.3 ]

in acetonitrile.

A film with conductivity on the order of 500 ohm⁻¹ cm⁻¹ was obtained.

10) A poly(aniline) was prepared by anodic oxidation on the monomer in a 1M solution of Na(CF₃ SO₂)₂ N in CH₃ NO₂.

A film with conductivity greater than 100 ohm⁻¹ cm⁻¹ was obtained.

The same film, except produced in thiophene, had conductivity on the order of 200 ohm⁻¹ cm⁻¹.

EXAMPLE 11

This example relates to the use of the new materials in accordance with the invention for the doping of polymers, such as poly(acetylene). A poly(acetylene) film was electrochemically doped in a solution of K(CF₃ SO₂)₂ N in nitromethane. The film obtained was stable in air with conductivity on the order of 1000 ohm⁻¹ cm⁻¹.

Thus, it is clearly apparent from these examples that the interest of these new ion conductive materials resides not only in the production of electrochemical generators which are rechargeable over a large number of cycles, but also for:

the preparation of stable organic cation radicals such as those of hexamethoxydiphenylamine or tetrathiofulvalene or condensed polyaromatics,

the doping of polymers with conjugated bonds of the polyaniline, polyacetylene, polythiophene or polypyrrole type. 

We claim:
 1. A process for the production of organic cation radicals using anodic oxidation of an organic molecule in an electrochemical cell containing two electrodes upon which opposite polarity may be established and a liquid electrolyte which is an ion conductive material comprising a salt in solution in a liquid consisting essentially of at least one polar aprotic solvent selected from the group consisting of linear ethers, cyclic ethers, esters, carbonates, lactones, nitrate derivatives, amides, sulfones and sulfolanes, wherein said salt is represented by one of the following formulas: ##STR4## wherein M is an alkaline or alkaline earth metal, a transition metal or a rare earth metal,RF and R'F are identical or different and each represent a perhalogen radical having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms, QF is a perfluorinated bivalent radical having from 2 to 6 carbon atoms.
 2. The process according to claim 1 wherein the polar aprotic solvent is at least one solvent selected from the group consisting of diethylether, dimethoxyethane, tetrahydrofuran, dioxane, dimethyltetrahydrofuran, methyl formate, ethyl formate, propylene carbonate, ethylene carbonate, butyrolactones, acetonitrile, benzonitrile, nitromethane, nitrobenzene, dimethylformamide, diethylformamide, N-methylpyrolidone, dimethylsulfone, tetramethylene sulfone, sulfolane, and thiophene.
 3. The process according to claim 1 where M is lithium.
 4. The process according to claim 1 where the liquid electrolyte consists essentially of Li(CF₃ SO₂)₂ N dissolved in a polar aprotic liquid solvent.
 5. Process for the doping of polymers using an electrochemical cell containing two electrodes upon which opposite polarity may be established and a liquid electrolyte which is an ion conductive material comprising a salt in solution in a liquid consisting essentially of at least one polar aprotic solvent selected from the group consisting of linear ethers, cyclic ethers, esters, carbonates, lactones, nitrate derivatives, amides, sulfones and sulfolanes, wherein said salt is represented by one of the following formulas: ##STR5## wherein M is an alkaline or alkaline earth metal, a transition metal or a rare earth metal,RF and R'F are identical or different and each represent a perhalogen radical having from 1 to 12 carbon atoms, QF is a perfluorinated bivalent radical having from 2 to 6 carbon atoms.
 6. A process according to claim 5 wherein the polar aprotic solvent is at least one solvent selected from the group consisting of diethylether, dimethoxyethane, tetrahydrofuran, dioxane, dimethyltetrahydrofuran, methyl formate, ethyl formate, propylene carbonate, ethylene carbonate, butyrolactones, acetonitrile, benzonitrile, nitromethane, nitrobenzene, dimethylformamide, diethylformamide, N-methylpyrolidone, dimethylsulfone, tetramethylene sulfone, sulfolane, and thiophene.
 7. The process according to claim 5 wherein M is lithium.
 8. The process according to claim 5 wherein the liquid electrolyte consists essentially of Li)CF₃ SO₂)₂ N dissolved in a polar aprotic liquid solvent. 